The Sunday Salon: So Not The End Of Year Other Favorites List (Part 2)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Yesterday, I did part one of this post - some of the favorite fiction titles I read from this year's releases. Since the Indie Lit Awards are just around the corner, I wanted to list out some of the books I loved and enjoyed, so that you may read some of them or nominate any that you enjoyed as well. Since I'm voting in the Fiction panel, I listed some of my favorite fiction titles yesterday. Today, I'm talking about some books in the other categories.

Some other books that I loved reading this year are Ready Player One (Speculative Fiction), The Good Daughter (Biography/Memoir), The Long Goodbye (Biography/Memoir) and Bringing Adam Home (Nonfiction). Ready Player One (Speculative Fiction) is one of my top reads this year, and I'm still looking out for a similar read, because I just can't get enough of it. It is a science fiction fantasy novel set in a future when the conditions on the earth have deteriorated a lot and people find happiness inside a virtual world called OASIS. However, the creator of OASIS dies and he leaves his massive estate to the one person who manages to find a hidden easter egg in his game. If you still haven't read this book, you should be opening your favorite bookstore website right now to order!

I read The Good Daughter (Biography/Memoir) in January and it still stays in my mind as a wonderful memoir slash story (and a WOW book) I read this year. The author writes about her mother, who grew up in Iran, and lived through all its prejudices to emerge as a strong woman. Lili is lucky in that she was born into an affluent family, but her experiences were still those of many Iranian women, who are considered second-class citizens to the men. Still, she makes her way in a world where things are set against her, thanks to the support of her family, especially her father, who early on abandons his wife and starts living in with another woman. There's so much that happens in this book and I could barely put it down. This is one book that I hope each of you will read.

The Long Goodbye (Biography/Memoir) was another favorite of mine because of the way the author talks about her grief in losing her mother. I was myself going through a very miserable period at the time of reading this book, so I found it very easy to connect with the author. As many people in grief do, the author has also committed actions that she isn't too proud of - something I can very much relate too. It's a time when the one who's suffering tries to protect his/her bubble as much as possible, and yet wants the world to fully understand what's happening. I found this memoir deeply moving.

Briging Adam Home (Nonfiction) is another favorite (and WOW) read this year. It is a topic that's probably sensitive for a lot of parents, with young kids, but it's an impressive documentary of a two+ decade long investigation process that needed to be told. Young Adam (son of America's Most Wanted host Ron Walsh) went missing one day at the Sears parking lot and was never found. The main detective that investigated the case did a shoddy job of trying to solve it and was more affrontal than receptive to others' suggestions and clues. The case kept going off and coming back on the radar, until many years later, another detective put all his efforts into finally closing the case. This narrative nonfiction was splendidly written, and I may even put it in the same category as Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. In other words, a must-read.

These are some of the other books I loved this year, in addition to the Fiction titles I spoke of yesterday. Have you read any of these?